Slovakian Cyclist Peter Sagan poses with the gold medal after winning the men’s elite road race event of the UCI Road World Championships Doha 2016 on Sunday.
DOHA: Cycling star Peter Sagan doesn’t believe in overdoing his training rituals before a big event like the UCI World Road Championships.
It was the same case when he arrived in Doha just three days before the eight-day cycling gala that took the riders around Qatar.
On Sunday, the 26-year-old Slovakian cycling giant defended his world crown by outpacing sprint star Mark Cavendish of Britain and ‘desert king’ Tom Boonen on the final day of the UCI World Road Championships.
“I did a lot (of training) this season,” Sagan said when asked about arriving only three days prior to last week’s cycling worlds. “It’s hot here. If you train here five-six hours (in hot weather) you just finish yourself,” Sagan said.
“When I came here the first day I was sleeping all day and then I did three hours and I was already like ‘it’s too much’. And then the other day I did just one hour,” he said about his preparations ahead of the big day on Sunday.
Come Sunday and everything fell into its place.
“I was the last rider (to jump) in the first group, with the Belgian and the Italian guys,” Sagan said about the tense finish.
“That was the first victory of the day and I just kept riding with them.
“Then maybe the German team came back from behind. After that, the Belgians (and) the Italians (also) pulled very strong, and in the end I thought we will go for the sprint for sure.
“It was like a lottery. I started the sprint from the right side and was very lucky they did not close me because it was very tight on the right side.
“Maybe it was destiny, because it’s not every day that I can win a sprint like this,” Sagan said.
Sagan said Belgian tactics took everyone by surprise close to the finish line.
“There were a lot of different riders, I had also one guy with me, Michal Kolar. Cavendish had two, Norway had (Alexander) Kristoff and they were three,” Sagan said.
“The Italians were also interested in the sprint. I told myself ‘it’s stupid to attack’. I played just one card, that was the sprint. I had nothing to lose and this happens. It’s very strange but I’m very happy,” Sagan said.
“You never know what will happen in the sprint. In a sprint like this, maybe you can watch two sprinters but there were a lot. Cavendish, Kristoff, Boonen, Nizzolo and Elia (Viviani). You have to choose. It’s always like (a) lottery, you can crash. You just go and make your best and I did my best,” Sagan said.
Sagan was quick to admit wins like the one on Sunday don’t come easy.
“It’s not easy ... the victory can never be easy. It’s very difficult,” Sagan said.
“I already said in Flanders that last year a lot of things had to come together to make things possible, a lot of luck but also good shape.
“Today if there would have been a lot climbs, I would not have been here. It’s not easy, I’m very happy with what I have done in my career until now, and we will see what’s going to happen in future,” Sagan said.
“I’m happy for how won. I’m also very happy that it’s the end of the season. It was long and now I need to rest,” Sagan said.
Cavendish, who finished with a silver medal, said Sunday could have been his day.
“I was just behind a wall of riders. I was on Sagan’s wheel. I saw in other races if you got on the right-hand side, you got squashed on the right-hand side, so I wanted to go back,” Cavendish explained about last few metres of the race.
“I tried to find a way. I had to really just stop pedalling to come on the other side of Michael Matthews, and this was with less than a hundred metres to go, so it was too late to come back.
“I managed to come back on Tom Boonen, but not on Sagan. It‘s frustrating.
“I saw that I was faster than the others in the final. I made a mistake and that’s going to eat at me for a long time,” the 31-year-old Briton said.
On how hard it was to come back to the worlds road after the track at the Olympic Games, Cavendish said: “It wasn’t easy but it was doable. I went straight back training again (after the Games ended). It’s my job. I have a job with Dimension Data. Hardest thing, I was being sick three weeks ago. I was actually surprised with how good I felt today. In the end of the day it’s my job to ride.”
Boonen, the man with the bronze, said things went according to plan for most part of Sunday.
“We did what we planned - to make the race hard from 75 kilometres to 125 and then the lock went on the race for hundred kilometres,” Boonen, 36, explained.
“The race was too long but I was happy with the result in the end. We actually came one guy short. The way the sprint went, I think we did maximum,” the affable Belgian said.
“We had to go full from 800 metres, and then I had to wait for the other guys to get passed me and start sprinting again. And then it’s very hard.
“We had two tactics. Greg (Van Avermaet) would cover the attacks from Niki (Terpstra) and all others, and I would stay with the fast guys for the sprint but in the end, it is what it is, can’t change it anymore,” he said.
However, despite the third place finish in Doha, Boonen thinks Sagan is beatable.
“Of course. He’s won a few races but not everything. Everybody is beatable,” Boonen said.
